Breaking Free
by Frolicks for Fun
Summary: Question: Why did Kyuubi attack Konoha? Answer: The Uchihas had something he wanted.
1. Introduction

Author: Niharana

Title: Breaking Free

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I am not making any money off of this.

Rating: T (may go up)

Summary: Question: Why did Kyuubi attack Konoha? Answer: The Uchihas had something he wanted.

Chapter 1

_ It was pulsing all around him. __"__Itachi__."_

_He could feel the order in the single word, the seductive voice beckoning him closer. __"__Itachi__."_

_Air was rushing past his face and he was moving through sealed doors, tearing them down as he went. __"__Itachi__."_

_He came to a stop in front of an unfamiliar shrine. __"__Itachi__."_

_His hand was reaching out to touch the seals that were hanging around the shrine to the clan's guardians, only to have it come to a sudden halt as it collided with several layers of wards. __"__Itachi__."_

_His eyes narrowed in thought, mind analyzing the wards before reaching to activate the __Sharingan__ – only to find it smothered. "Only a __Mangekyo__Sharingan__ can look upon the shrine, __Itachi__."_

_He placed his hand flat against the ward, searching for weaknesses. "Only a __Mangekyo__Sharingan__ can destroy the wards, __Itachi__."_

_"Who are you? Why are you sealed here?"_

_Feminine laughter echoed in his mind. "I have many names, __Itachi__. And I am sealed here because your clan decided to betray me."_

_"Why are you calling me?"_

_"I have seen you, your pain, your disgust of those who would control you – I know your feelings – they mirror my own. Test your limits, __Itachi__, but don't forget that from which you came, that from which your __Sharingan__ comes."_

_He was fading from his dream. "Don't forsake me, __Itachi__, like the rest of your clan has done to you."_


	2. Chapter 1

Author: Niharana

Title: Breaking Free

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I am not making any money off of this.

Rating: T (may go up)

Summary: Question: Why did Kyuubi attack Konoha? Answer: The Uchihas had something he wanted.

A/N – Okay, I know that the first chapter was _really_ short, but it was necessary. Also, I apologize if any of the characters seem a bit OOC, but it's necessary for the plot. The main pairing for this fic is Itachi/OFC. And finally, I will be tweaking the plot of the series (it won't be canon) after the second stage of the chunnin exams.

Thanks and enjoy!

Chapter 2

The tall man frowned as he looked out through the subdued Konoha night, eyes not appearing to be focused on anything in particular. His every movement was graceful as he slipped easily into and out of the moving throngs of people as he headed towards the near-abandoned Uchiha district, confident that, for tonight at least, it would be empty due to the second stage of the chunnin exam, which his brother was participating in. Once inside the clan compound he moved rapidly towards his target, a small room revealed only to each clan heir, which lay beneath the compound proper.

Reaching the room that led into his destination, he swiftly stripped and then redressed in a set of clothes that had been set aside for specifically this purpose, for this day. When he was a child, he had been told that his chakra was compatible with the one that permeated the sealed room, and then was given careful instruction on how to wake the woman who was sealed and bind her to himself – and the clan. No one outside of his direct paternal line knew of his assignment and training in the seals, and they were long gone due to their own foolish plotting.

This particular set of seals could only be broken by the woman's consent, and then only for a day. It had taken many generations of hard work and sacrifice to discern a method of breaking the seal completely, permanently, but they had done it, and the task had been assigned to him from birth. The tricky part was that the woman had to have taken a day from him in order for him to extract her for the day, and she had.

The mystery of the Uchiha clan massacre was lost from the minds of most people from the moment that his brother's declaration left his mouth. No one wondered how he did it. To this day it irked him.

Pushing that particularly bothersome thought aside, he rose and moved through the sealed door, carefully resealing it afterwards to prevent anyone from detecting what he was about to do before moving to the center of the room, ceremonial knife in hand. Making an incision on each of his fingertips, he reached out and touched the wards surrounding the small shrine in the center of the dirt floor and, activating his Mangekyo Sharingan, began to trace the lines of the wards, feeling satisfaction as they crumbled at the touch of his chakra enhanced blood. He forced himself to work at a swift but steady pace, knowing that his timing would have to be perfect in order to swing the ritual in the way that he wanted it to go.

When he reached the center of the ward, he had to hold back a gasp of pain as the wards began pulling his blood from his fingertips with no consideration for his health. Soon he noticed black spots swimming in front of his vision, and then, the pulling suddenly stopped as the shrine sunk into the ground and was replaced by a slab with the sealed woman lying on it. Suppressing dizziness, he stepped through the weakened wards and, using the ceremonial knife, carved five lines in each of his hands, starting at his wrist and ending at his fingertips. He then proceeded to do the same for the woman lying on the slab before placing their hands together and forcing chakra through the linked wounds.

The woman blinked into life, shallow breaths barely moving her chest before they became gradually deeper as she regained consciousness. Clenching his fingers around her hands, he pulled her so that her legs were hanging over the side of the slab she had been reclining upon so that her head slumped forward against her chest. He pulled her the rest of the way off the slab until her entire weight was resting on his slender frame. He made a mental note that she was heavier than she looked as he carefully dressed her nude figure in the spare clothes that were lying at the end of the slab before slamming a wave of chakra into the wards that were embedded in the room, effectively shattering them.

He then picked her up bridal style and moved though the now unsealed door into the outer room and carefully picked up his clothes, leaving the ceremonial robes on instead of replacing them with the clothes he came in with. It would make him a bit more conspicuous, but he wasn't too worried about it – he wasn't an ANBU captain for nothing. Moving swiftly, his appearance disguised under a henge, he made his way through Konoha towards the wall and, with a boost of chakra to his legs and feet leapt deftly over the wall.

Moving through the trees, he quickly made his way to a cave that he had sealed and placed a genjutsu around masking it effectively from view to everyone who wasn't keyed into the illusion. He popped a blood replenishing pill into his mouth before biting down on it and then swallowing its contents, relieved when the effects kicked in almost immediately. Sparing a glance at his still unconscious companion, the man stood and began preparing a small fire with the wood that he had set aside earlier for this specific purpose, knowing that the warmth would help ease her into consciousness, something that was necessary as every moment that they stayed near Konoha was dangerous, especially with the pending invasion.

A soft groan signaled that she was beginning to awake, and he was instantly at her side, propping her up against his chest so that he could get prevent her thrashing around. As her breathing began to become deeper, he felt her muscles begin to shift as she stirred against his chest. A sudden gasp, accompanied by a stiffening of her body, alerted him to the fact that she was at the very least coherent, if no fully awake. "Relax, Leonai. You're safe and out of the seal's reach."

"Who?" Her voice was raspy, and he shifted slightly, turning her and then placing water at her mouth, which she drank greedily, resulting in an abrupt coughing fit before he thumped her on the back, effectively dislodging the wayward moisture. She smiled a bit sheepishly at him before opening her mouth to speak, only to have him place a slender pale finger on her lips, causing her to look quizzically at him.

"Your vocal cords need to rest. I am Uchiha Itachi. We met a few years ago." Her eyes widened as she realized exactly who she was with. "Are you fit to travel?" The question coincided with him standing and helping her to her feet, which she did a bit shakily before getting her muscles under control and standing steady on her own power, Itachi having moved to change into his usual clothes. She averted her gaze with a mild blush as he stripped, but, fortunately for her, Itachi finished re-dressing quickly. He then put out the fire and hid the evidence of their stay with practiced precision before motioning to the slender woman who was with him "Come." And with that they set off into the dark night.

He wasn't surprised when she collapsed halfway between when they set out and dawn, he simply plucked her off the ground and, placing her on his back, continued to race towards his destination, a small village just outside of the Akatsuki headquarters in Waterfall country. Fortunately, the village was close to the border between the countries of Waterfall and Fire, so he managed to make it to the village before sunrise and moved silently through the village until he reached the house that he had recently purchased and sealed so that it was only visible to one of Uchiha blood meaning that, unless his little brother somehow stumbled upon this place, no one could find him unless he wished to be found.

The house was fairly large and set on the outskirts of the actual village which granted him the seclusion that he knew would be necessary for a high profile missing-nin such as himself. There were a number of traps set on the extensive grounds surrounding the estate and, if one included the grounds in one's measurements, the entire place was only slightly smaller than the original Uchiha clan grounds.

Stepping inside the house itself, Itachi moved to the couch and set his burden gently onto it before moving into the room he used for sleeping and, after rolling out the futon, pulled out the calligraphy set that he had used to seal the house and placed it on the floor next to the futon. Taking an empty brush stem and the inkwell into the other room with him, he moved next to her and, taking a kunai, sliced off a portion of her hair to use as the bristles for the brush. He then used the same kunai to nick her at the nape of her neck and, twisting the ends of her hair in the blood, used the blood that welled up as the cohesive force between her hair and the hollow brush stem. He also collected some of the blood into a separate container that attached to the other end of the brush, allowing the blood to seep slowly through the bristles while he was making the seal. Taking another kunai, he made a similar incision on the nape of his neck, pressing a bit deeper than he had with hers, and allowed the blood to fill the substantial inkwell before using healing chakra on the wound to seal it.

Carrying her into the sleeping room, he stripped her, placed her sleeping form stomach down on the futon, cast a sleeping genjutsu on her to ensure that she didn't move during the procedure, and, after attaching the container to the end of the brush, began to painstakingly work on the seal that his clan had been working on for the past half-century. The seal was actually a conglomeration of several seals, all working in conjunction for several different purposes. The primary seal, which would take the form of a visible large Uchiha fan located at the small of her back, would bind her to him physically – he would always maintain awareness of where she was in relation to him, not matter the distance. There were a series of sub-seals that made up the line between the two portions of the fan that also allowed him to know her physical status. Emerging from the fan were a series of twelve straight lines, all of which intersected the seal at right angles and caused the fan to resemble a sun rising. These lines served as one large seal which would allow Itachi to know what state she was in mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. They would also allow him to control her emotions to some extent. The whole seal array would always be visible unless he willed it away.

The final part of the seal was the most complex. Picking up another inkwell, this one made to attach to the upturned end of a pen or brush, and a pair of bamboo pens, Itachi, starting at the tops of her feet, began to draw complex line formations on her skin, never once lifting the pen from or pausing it on her skin, all the while both channeling his chakra into her through one of the pens and pulling her life force into him through the other. He used chakra that skimmed across her skin in order to turn her once he finished drawing on her back and then finished the front of her as well, with the two pen tips ending in a sealed swirl that lay directly over each of her ovaries. Leaving the pens where they were, he sent a burst of his chakra down the pens, forcing it along the drawn lines until it reached the blood-drawn seal. Once it surrounded the fan shaped seal on her back, all the ink-drawn lines glowed black and solidified before seeping completely into her skin, becoming invisible and making sure that nothing could tamper with the seals. Feeling his vision grow blurry as the seals linking her to him set in, he shook away his exhaustion and cleaned up the seal set before lying down next to her and sinking into sleep.


End file.
